


REMINISCENCE

by allhailthequin



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Anti-hero, Damian as a double-agent from FBI, Jason as a gem thief, M/M, prolly a trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:27:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27628154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allhailthequin/pseuds/allhailthequin
Summary: Jason who recently lost his beloved wife, Damian, and remembering their journey as an anti-hero couple.
Relationships: Jason Todd/Damian Wayne
Kudos: 15





	REMINISCENCE

It has been 45 years from the time of our marriage and seven days after my other half is no longer in existence.

I am motionless, sitting quietly before the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate my eldest daughter made half an hour ago. One of my hand is gently stroking the knitted blanket my late wife had created in her spare time.

A moment later, my eyeballs twirl to some of the picture frames that I intentionally set atop the fireplace. No, I was wrong. Us. My wife and I were arranging these frames that expose the similitudes of us from different epochs. I came face to face with my better half, Damian, when I was in my early 20s. My wife had black hair and eyes as green as a Jade. He was the toughest, the smartest, the strongest man I have ever met. Our encounter was not a pleasant and beautiful experience to think of—unlike those chronicles in feature films or dramas nor romance novels yet more than enough to chisel memories in each of our hearts. Damian had been through a lot, or maybe it would be more correct to say that we are, considering how the environment where we were born and grew up and also our line of work. Damian's mother was the possessor of the world's largest illegal arms supply organization, the Leviathan, and he was one of the potential successors to it. However, the sense of justice in him was appreciable than the greed for money like his mother. Damian was an honest living soul, making him a double agent of the FBI. Speaking of myself, I was a self-supporting reputable gem thief who will return the purloined gem if it is not the one I am searching for considering I was in search of nine gems my grandfather got during his war which was stolen by an irresponsible politician, and we came across each other when Damian was at a gem auction where I stole a Jeremejevite. No one had ever caught me before, but he did, even though he was not on duty; not carrying complete weapons and still wearing a luxury black suit which, of course, quite hampers his movements. However, he got a favourable outcome. My wife was an outstanding human being.

Since then, somehow, we always meet, though we did not meet as good buddies or acquaintances. We chance on each other as enemies; me, the thief and Damian, the double agent trusted by the FBI. I guessed we were fated to continue to meet as enemies but then the fate said differently when my sidekick, Cassandra, died horribly. She was killed by one of the most dangerous gangsters in America. I was frustrated. I tracked down the killers but then I held the knowledge that I cannot fight them by myself. Then, my mind flew to Damian, out of nowhere. I felt like if it was him, he can take them down and avenge Cass’ death.

I willfully tracked Damian's schedule to meet him personally and seemed satisfied when I knew that Damian will be a guest at a gemstone auction in New York and that night, I advanced to the event. Indeed, my end in view was poles apart from the majority of my moves—I stole not to find grandfather's jewels, but to get Damian's attention.

And, as I hoped, I did. I managed to steal his attention, make him chase me to the roof of the building that night. As usual, he put on an unfriendly face and shouted, 'Can you stop causing trouble?!'.

I smiled behind the red mask that I always use when I do my action. I approached Damian and then gave the Jeremejevite which I took.

"Here," I said. "I give it back."

Damian looked at me with a look full of confusion. I really understand. He must be confused because I never returned the gem I stole straight away because I had to take every one of them to my laboratory to make sure whether it was the right one or not. I tried hard to hold back my laughter when I saw his cute expression.

"I'm sorry, but my target tonight is not the gem, but you." I said, who succeeded in making his eyes widened.

“Me? Why?"

Hearing that, I took off my mask for the first time, revealing my identity to her; my face as well as my real name. I said, “Let me introduce myself properly this time. My name is Jason. Jason Peter Todd. Nice to meet you, Damian Wayne.”

I can see that his shocked expression did not go away. I gave him my best smile, which according to Damian was the smile that managed to attract him to me, and I remember that I explained my reason. I remember everything I said—'My sidekick was killed. By one of the strongest gangsters in America. I don't have the strength to fight them alone, but if it's you, I'm sure you can. You are one of the FBI agents. The FBI can beat them. '

I also still remember the response. Damian looked at me with a doubtful look, a natural look when your enemy asks for help.

"What's my advantage in helping you?" he asked me with an eyebrow raised. I put my hands in my pockets.

"You can get a promotion for catching that damn gangster and I can get my revenge. Isn't this a good deal because it's a win-win?"

I saw Damian was silent and I did not want to disturb what was on his mind at that time, because I know that he was considering all the possibilities of working with me and I appreciated that. I can only hope that he will accept my offer.

And, how fortunate I was that evening because Damian received the offer by agreeing. Thence we saw each other frequently. Not as an opponent, but an ally. I carried on with the observation of the gangster's movements from a distance and Damian helped me with the articles he had as an FBI agent. We also gathered various kinds of evidence as concerns to Cass’ death. Our investigation lasted for leastwise one to two months, and in the course of that moment, the bond with Damian move forward at a slow pace. The further with him, the deeper I felt the shiver in my chest when I saw him again and again, and at the time when we knocked off on tracing all the corroborations of Cass' death, I became conscious of the fact that I treasured, loved him. I believed I wanted to bawl when Damian came out with the words that he would give all the evidence to the FBI for further action, and the two of us get through our head that once this delving is over, we no longer have any reason to meet for I will come back to my job and Damian will pushes on chasing me. I put a name to the night Damian asked me why I go on stealing those gems and then carried them back on next morning, I returned the question with a response, "My grandad is an ex-military, he had nine gemstones which he received as honours. However, an irresponsible senator stole them then selling the gemstones and now I'm trying to find them. I can't let grandad's struggle go to waste." Damian sounded like he understands my situation and said, "Well, I'll never blame you as Damian. Nonetheless, at the time that we are not a bit doing this cooperation anymore and go back to our respective lives, then I too must need to draw your action to a close… as an FBI agent."

We laughed following that. However, when both of us conveyed, "This coadjuvant is over", my chest felt tight. And, as Damian turned around, I, getting the message that it was over, cried for first-time posterior to the moment when I knew that Cass was slain. The girl might have teased me—gives me no quarter—supposing that she was still around. I really felt the loss of the kid at once.

It had only been several days since our most recent encounter, Damian called me, asked to meet, and finally, we sat together at a rathskeller. I was able to detect that he was having a considerable quantity of thoughts.

"What's going on?" I asked her, and Damian just sighed.

"I must apologise for I cannot supply the help to you any farther," he declared and then returned to imbibe his beer. Without being cognizant of it, my hands tremored. I was giving it a shot to get rid of all the bad thoughts that were starting to brim over my brain.

"And why the fuck is that?" I asked her.

Damian eyeballed me with a stiff gaze.

"The FBI is in no way to give my proposal a stamp of approval, without taking into account that I've appended all the substantiation for Cass’ assassination case."

"For what reasons?" I asked him once more and he said, "I am stuck for an answer. The chief told me to keep silence and not in my life think this case exists."

My anger started to build. I tightly clutched a little of the fabric that I wear. I was angry. So angry. I grabbed Damian's jacket collar while looking at him sharply.

"I don't understand. You promised! You agreed to help me!" I snapped. "Cass—Cass died horribly! Killed by those damn gangsters! You should be fair!"

"You think you're the only one who's disappointed?!" Damian yelled back at me, making me loosened my grip a little on the collar of his jacket and was surprised when seeing tears coming out of his beautiful eyes.

"I'm disappointed too, Jason. I'm so disappointed," he muttered. "I know when the chief rejected my proposal, something is wrong with the FBI, but I can't do anything about it! I'm not a special agent nor a high-ranking person. I'm just an ordinary agent. A subordinate!"

Damian was gasping for breath, because of anger and tears and I was so sorry that half of it was because of me.

"I betrayed my family because I feel that I should do the right thing. Do the honest and fair thing, and help rid the criminals from the world because I wanted to see a safe and prosperous life. I was irritated when I found out that there was corruption inside of the FBI,” he continued. “I'm so mad! Angry at the situation where I can't do anything about it. So, please. Understand my position."

I lowered my head.

"Sorry," I muttered. "Forgive me."

And, all night long we drank together, relieving the pain that ravaged us both.

Until one day, we discovered that there was indeed fraudulence within the FBI, where they made a pact with the gangsters so that they did not have the power to arrest them. It really made Damian angry and devastated. On Monday morning, Damian handed his resignation letter to the FBI and came up to me that evening, came to my apartment and said that he had quit his job. Of course, it shocked me to death. We talked about it, until Damian said, "What if we catch those criminals with our own hands? We can't trust anyone anymore. I just believe in you. How does it sound? Want to work with me again? You can get your revenge and I will show those damn dishonest FBI workers what good work is like."

I etched a smirk.

"Oh, of course, I agree. So, when are we going to start our action?" I asked, and Damian stared at me.

"Midnight. And don't call me Damian while we're on duty. From now on, I am the Robin to your Red Hood.”

From that night forward, we did things that we see are right nevertheless, as a matter of fact, we likewise were contravening the law. Night after night we made a move, from unheavy things, for instance, coming to the aid of women who are harassed by a bunch of petty, two sheets to the wind thugs to tracking the pace of the drugs and illegal goods seller. We eliminated the transgressor group one by one, allowing our code names were plastered in every newspaper weekly. 'The anti-hero duo, Red Hood and Robin are back in action!', 'Even with infringing the law, the society gives a whoop to Red Hood and Robin', 'The city wins the more acceptable life posterior to the arrival of Red Hood and Robin.’ and lots of other titles from the news in the newspaper in connection with us. Indeed, we were not law enforcement officers' close confidant. Even so, we had the public's approval in our possession. The public luxuriated in our action seeing that they felt their life was seen to be safer after we show up.

Besides, my relationship with Damian continued. I revealed my feelings to him on the dome of a cathedral at the dark of the night after we caught a group of somewhat dangerous robbers. And, guess what, he agreed to it! We officially became lovers.

Our romantic relationship was truly not as lovely as romantic fictions since our dates were filled with gunshots, pain and the stink of blood oftentimes, although that was what sets our affaire de cœur grew better than anyone. The two of us trust each other. I entrusted my life to him and him who entrusted his life to me. We protect each other, save each other, strengthen each other. We are an unbeatable couple.

I hurriedly finished my cup of hot cocoa when I felt the tears begin to drop to my cheeks. I am still not getting used to his departure from my life because in my threescore years and ten I was too lean on Damian. In fact, many a time I have hallucinations to hear him call my name.

Jason, Jason, Jason.

His soft voice in the time that he is calling my name keeps ringing.

Oh, Damian, my beautiful wife. I pray much of the day that we will be reunited in the next life, with us as one again.

I will continue to love you until then.

**Author's Note:**

> so basically, this is a story for a writing contest but i did not get the prize, loll :'( thus, i altered the character and made it simpler to suit a one-shot jaydami fanfic.


End file.
